Ireland's leading amateurs made a superb start in yesterday's first qualifying round for the British Amateur Championship over the Royal Birkdale and Southport & Ainsdale courses.
No fewer than six of the 13-strong contingent handed in scores in the top-50 of the international field to be well-placed for today's second round, after which the cut will be made and the top 64 players and ties go in to the matchplay stages.
Darren Crowe of Dunmurry shot a one-under-par 69 at Royal Birkdale, while Brian McElhinney of North West, over at Southport, also fired a 69 for three under par to lie in a share of third place, while Mallow's Mervyn Owens was just a shot back and tied for seventh.
West of Ireland champion Rory McIlroy of Holywood shot a two-over-par 72, and he was joined on that mark by Sean McTernan of Co Sligo and McElhinney's club-mate Michael McGeady. All three were playing Royal Birkdale.
Crowe and McElhinney trail the joint leaders, Taco Remkes of the Netherlands and Damian Ulrich of Switzerland by two shots,
Remkes, who has been a member of Dutch national teams for the past seven years, tackled Birkdale without a practice round after travel problems delayed his arrival in Southport. He had never seen the course before and decided simply to attempt to keep the ball in play. "Maybe not knowing the problems was the best way to play it," he said.
The 20-year-old dropped only one shot, at the short seventh, birdied the second, fourth, fifth and ninth and played strict par golf for the inward nine holes for his three-under-par 67 over the 7,018-yard course.
His score was matched at Southport & Ainsdale by 22-year-old Ulrich, whose eight birdies and three dropped shots added up to a five-under-par round over the 6,749-yard course. His his score was made possible by a superb touch on the greens. He had only 24 putts, holing for birdie from three to 30 feet.
BRITISH AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP
First Round Qualifying - Leading scores: 67 - T Remkes (Neth), D Ulrich (Swi). 69 - H Bragason (Ice), D Crowe (Dunmurry), H Mantyla (Fin), B McElhinney (North West). 70 - N Edwards (Whitchurch), B Fotheringham (Forres), D Horsey (Styal), M Owens (Mallow), B Valentyn (Rsa). Other Irish: 72 - R McIlroy (Holywood), M McGeady (North West), S McTernan (Co Sligo). 74 - M Campbell (Stackstown), K Moore (Douglas). 75 - R Kilpatrick (Banbridge). 76 - P O'Keeffe (Douglas). 78 - G Bowden (Hermitage). 79 - M O'Sullivan (Galway). 81 - C McNamara (Limerick).